Due to its extensive impact, COVID-19 is expected to change the world of contemporary management functions, in terms of evolving thought and practices, both during the pandemic and in the future. The pandemic challenged the way we understand the role of society, government, and business across the globe. In this issue, a section has been dedicated to the special issue on management in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Global Crisis.

In “Lockdown Stringency and an Assessment of the Trajectory of COVID-19 Pandemic in India,” the author assesses how lockdown policies and stringency affected the spread of the pandemic in India. The author builds a composite measure of the pandemic to assess its correlation with the stringency index and identifies four phases in the trajectory of the pandemic. The author supports localized stringency measures rather than national level lockdowns to balance health and economy.

In “Impact of Virtual Try-on Technology on Customer’s Mental Imagery During COVID-19,” authors provide an insight about the mental imagery of customers towards the new developing technology virtual try-on. Using primary data, the authors show that virtual try-on technology positively influences vividness, quantity, and elaboration—the dimensions of mental imagery.

In “Understanding Consumer Perception Towards Usage of Music Apps During COVID-19: A Study in West Bengal State,” the authors examine and analyze the attitudes and behavior of the consumers towards use of music apps in selected districts of West Bengal on the basis of “Technology Acceptance Model” (TAM). The authors conclude that consumers of West Bengal have positive perception towards music apps.

In “Effect of Communication Strategies for Implementation of IT-based Educational Innovation During COVID-19 Pandemic on Students’ Motivation, Attitude, and Intent,” the author measures the effect of rational persuasive strategy (utilizing legitimate contentions), assertive strategy (utilizing intimidation), consulting strategy (engaging in the act of giving expert advice), and inspirational (evoking feelings of appreciation) strategy for implementing IT-based educational innovations. The findings using PLS-SEM indicated strategies except assertive strategy have a positive and significant effect on student’s motivation, attitude, and intent.

In “Change in Consumer Behaviour Due to COVID Crisis: An Exploratory Study,” authors explore the consumer behavior (purchase pattern, volume, and frequency) and household expenditure alteration due to the COVID crisis using a mixed-method approach. They observed the changes in the purchase behavior, habits, and patterns due to COVID pandemic and noted that the such changes are more prominent in service industry compared to products.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the advisory and editorial board for their support and encouragement. I express my gratitude to all the anonymous reviewers who devoted much of their precious time reviewing all the papers submitted to this issue. I also thank all authors who contributed to this special issue. I hope you will enjoy reading the issue and find it informative and helpful.

Mousumi Bhattacharya, Editor-in-Chief

IIM Shillong, Meghalaya, India

Email: msb@iimshillong.ac.in